British Union of Fascists - Wikipedia British Union of Fascists Larger part of the British Fascists Succeeded by Elections The British Union of Fascists, or BUF, was a Fascist political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley . It changed its name to the "British Union of Fascists and National Socialists" in 1936 and, in 1937, to "British Union." It was finally disbanded in 1940 after it was proscribed by the British government, following the start of the Second World War . The BUF emerged in 1932 from the British far-right , following the electoral defeat of its antecedent, the New Party , in the 1931 general election . The BUF's foundation was initially met with popular support and developed a sizeable following. The press baron Lord Rothermere was a notable early supporter. As the party became increasingly radical, however, support declined. The Olympia Rally of 1934, in which a number of anti-Fascist protestors were attacked, isolated the party from much of its following.

The party's embrace of Nazi -style anti-semitism in 1936 led to increasingly violent clashes with opponents, notably the 1936 Battle of Cable Street in London 's East End . The Public Order Act 1936 , which banned political uniforms and responded to increasing political violence, had a particularly strong effect on the BUF whose supporters were known as "Blackshirts" after the uniforms they wore. Growing British hostility towards Nazi Germany , with which the British press persistently associated the BUF, further contributed to the decline of the movement's membership. It was finally banned by the British government in 1940 after the start of the Second World War, amid suspicion that its remaining supporters might form a pro-Nazi " fifth column ". A number of prominent BUF members were arrested and interned under Defence Regulation 18B . Contents Background[ edit ] Flowchart showing the history of the early British fascist movement. Oswald Mosley was the youngest elected Conservative MP before crossing the floor in 1922, joining first Labour and, shortly afterwards, the Independent Labour Party .

He became a minister in Ramsay MacDonald 's Labour government , advising on rising unemployment.[ citation needed ] In 1930, Mosley issued his 'Mosley Memorandum', which fused protectionism with a proto- Keynesian programme of policies designed to tackle the unemployment problem, and he resigned from the Labour party soon after, in early 1931, when the plans were rejected. He immediately formed the New Party , with policies based on his memorandum. Despite winning 16% of the vote at a by-election in Ashton-under-Lyne in early 1931, however, the party failed to achieve any other electoral success.[ citation needed ] During 1931, the New Party became increasingly influenced by Fascism . [1] The next year, after a January 1932 visit to Benito Mussolini in Italy , Mosley's own conversion to fascism was confirmed. He wound up the New Party in April, but preserved its youth movement, which would form the core of the BUF, intact. He spent the summer that year writing a fascist programme, The Greater Britain, and this formed the basis of policy of the BUF, which was launched in October 1932.

[1] Early success and growth[ edit ] The Olympia Exhibition Centre in London , site of the party's 1934 rally sometimes cited as the beginning of the movement's decline. Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini (left) with Leader Oswald Mosley (right) during Mosley's visit to Italy in 1936. The BUF claimed 50,000 members at one point, [2] and the Daily Mail , running the headline "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!", was an early supporter. [3] The first Director of Propaganda, appointed in February 1933, was Wilfred Risdon , who was responsible for organising all of Mosley's public meetings. Despite strong resistance from anti-fascists, including the local Jewish community , the Labour Party , the Independent Labour Party , and the Communist Party of Great Britain , the BUF found a following in the East End of London , where in the London County Council elections of March 1937, it obtained reasonably successful results in Bethnal Green , Shoreditch , and Limehouse , polling almost 8,000 votes, although none of its candidates was elected.

[4] The BUF never stood in a General Election .[ citation needed ] Having lost the funding of newspaper magnate Lord Rothermere that it had previously enjoyed, at the 1935 General Election the party urged voters to abstain, calling for "Fascism Next Time". [5] There never was a "next time", as the next General Election was not held until July 1945, five years after the dissolution of the BUF.[ citation needed ] Towards the middle of the 1930s, the BUF's violent clashes with opponents began to alienate some middle-class supporters, and membership decreased. At the Olympia rally in London, in 1934, BUF stewards violently ejected anti-fascist disrupters, and this led the Daily Mail to withdraw its support for the movement. The level of violence shown at the rally shocked many, with the effect of turning neutral parties against the BUF and contributing to anti-fascist support.

One observer claimed: "I came to the conclusion that Mosley was a political maniac, and that all decent English people must combine to kill his movement." [6] Decline and legacy[ edit ] Modern depiction of the Battle of Cable Street The event is frequently invoked in contemporary British politics The BUF briefly drew away from mainstream politics and towards antisemitism over 1934-35 owing to the growing influence of Nazi sympathisers within the party, such as William Joyce and John Beckett , which provoked the resignation of members such as Dr. Robert Forgan . This anti-semitic emphasis and these high-profile resignations resulted in membership dropping to below 8,000 by the end of 1935 and, ultimately, Mosley shifted the party's focus back to mainstream politics. The party continued to clash with anti-fascists, most famously at the Battle of Cable Street in October 1936, when organised anti-fascists prevented the BUF from marching through Cable Street. However, the party later staged other marches through the East End without incident, albeit not on Cable Street itself. BUF support for Edward VIII and the peace campaign to prevent a second World War saw membership and public support rise once more.

[7] The government was sufficiently concerned by the party's growing prominence to pass the Public Order Act 1936 , which banned political uniforms and required police consent for political marches. In 1937, William Joyce and other Nazi sympathisers split from the party to form the National Socialist League , which quickly folded, with most of its members interned . Mosley later denounced Joyce as a traitor and condemned him for his extreme anti-semitism. The historian Stephen Dorril revealed in his book Blackshirts that secret envoys from the Nazis had donated about £ 50,000 to the BUF. [8] By 1939, total BUF membership was probably approaching 20,000. [7] In May 1940, the BUF was banned outright by the government and Mosley, along with 740 other fascists, was interned for much of the Second World War. After the war, Mosley made several unsuccessful attempts to return to politics, notably in the Union Movement . See also: British Fascism The Flash and Circle flag of the British Union of Fascists.

Mosley, known to his followers as The Leader, modelled his leadership style on Benito Mussolini and the BUF on Mussolini's National Fascist Party in Italy , including an imitation of the Italian Fascists' black uniforms for members, earning them the nickname " Blackshirts ". The BUF was anti-communist and protectionist , and proposed replacing parliamentary democracy with executives elected to represent specific industries, trades or other professional interest groups—a system similar to the corporatism of the Italian fascists. Unlike the Italian system, British fascist corporatism planned to replace the House of Lords with elected executives drawn from major industries, the clergy, and colonies. The House of Commons was to be reduced to allow for a faster, "less factionist" democracy. [9] The BUF's programme and ideology were outlined in Mosley's Great Britain (1932) and A. Raven Thompson's The Coming Corporate State (1938). Many BUF policies were built on isolationism , prohibiting trade outside an insulated British Empire .

Mosley’s system aimed to protect the British economy from the fluctuations of the world market, especially during the Great Depression , and prevent "cheap slave competition from abroad." [9] Relationship with the Suffragettes[ edit ] In a January 2010 BBC documentary, Mother Was A Blackshirt, James Maw reported that in 1914 Norah Elam was placed in a Holloway prison cell with Emmeline Pankhurst for her involvement with the Suffragette movement, and again in 1940 was returned to the same prison with Diana Mosley, this time for her involvement with the fascist movement. Another leading suffragette, Mary Richardson , became head of the women's section of the BUF. The report described how Elam's fascist philosophy grew from her suffragette experiences, how the British fascist movement became largely driven by women, how they targeted young women from an early age, how the first British fascist movement was founded by a woman, and how the leading lights of the Suffragettes had, with Oswald Mosley , founded the BUF.

[10] Mosley's electoral strategy had been to prepare for the election after 1935, and in 1936 he announced a list of BUF candidates for that election, with Elam nominated to stand for Northampton. Mosley accompanied Elam to Northampton to introduce her to her electorate at a meeting in the Town Hall. At that meeting Mosley announced that "he was glad indeed to have the opportunity of introducing the first candidate, and ... [thereby] killed for all time the suggestion that National Socialism proposed putting British women back into the home; this is simply not true. Mrs Elam [he went on] had fought in the past for women's suffrage ... and was a great example of the emancipation of women in Britain." [11] Prominent members and supporters[ edit ] Despite the short period of operation the BUF attracted prominent members and supporters. These included: Henry Williamson was a writer. [25] In popular culture[ edit ] The Channel 4 television serial Mosley (1998) portrayed the career of Oswald Mosley during his years with the BUF.

The four-part series was based on the books Rules of the Game and Beyond the Pale, written by Mosley's son, Nicholas Mosley . [26] In the film It Happened Here , the BUF appears to be the ruling party of German-occupied Britain. A Mosley speech is heard on the radio in the scene before everyone goes to the movies. The first depiction of Mosley and the BUF in fiction occurred in Aldous Huxley 's 1932 novel, Point Counter Point , where Mosley is depicted as Everard Webley, the murderous leader of the "BFF", the Brotherhood of Free Fascists, and comes to a nasty end. Emblem of P.G. Wodehouse 's fictional Black Shorts movement that appeared in the television series Jeeves and Wooster . Harry Turtledove 's alternative history novel, In the Presence of Mine Enemies , is set in 2010 in a world where the Nazis were triumphant, the BUF governs Britain – and the first stirrings of the reform movement come from there.

The BUF and Mosley also appear as background influences in Turtledove's Colonization trilogy which follows the Worldwar tetralogy and is set in the 1960s. James Herbert 's 1996 novel '48 features a protagonist who is hunted by BUF Blackshirts in a devastated London after a biological weapon release in the Second World War. The history of the BUF and Mosley is recapitulated. In Ken Follett 's novel Night Over Water , several of the main characters are BUF members. In his book Winter of the World , the Battle of Cable Street plays a role and some of the characters are involved in the BUF or in the anti-BUF organisations. The BUF is also in Guy Walters ' book The Leader (2003), where Mosley is the dictator of Britain in the 1930s. The British humorous writer P. G. Wodehouse satirized the BUF in books and short stories. The BUF was satirized as "The Black Shorts" [27] (shorts being worn as all the best shirt colours were already taken) and their leader was Roderick Spode , owner of a ladies' underwear shop.

The British novelist Nancy Mitford satirized the BUF and Mosley in Wigs on the Green , initially published in 1935 and republished in 2010. Diana Mitford , the author's sister, had been romantically involved with Mosley since 1932. In the 1992 Acorn Media production of Agatha Christie 's One, Two, Buckle My Shoe with David Suchet and Philip Jackson , one of the supporting characters (played by Christopher Eccleston ) secures a paid position as a rank-and-file member of the BUF. Elections The British Union of Fascists, or BUF, was a Fascist political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley . It changed its name to the "British Union of Fascists and National Socialists" in 1936 and, in 1937, to "British Union." It was finally disbanded in 1940 after it was proscribed by the British government, following the start of the Second World War .

The BUF emerged in 1932 from the British far-right , following the electoral defeat of its antecedent, the New Party , in the 1931 general election . The BUF's foundation was initially met with popular support and developed a sizeable following. The press baron Lord Rothermere was a notable early supporter. As the party became increasingly radical, however, support declined. The Olympia Rally of 1934, in which a number of anti-Fascist protestors were attacked, isolated the party from much of its following. The party's embrace of Nazi -style anti-semitism in 1936 led to increasingly violent clashes with opponents, notable the 1936 Battle of Cable Street in London 's East End . The Public Order Act 1936 , which banned political uniforms and responded to increasing political violence, had a particularly strong effect on the BUF whose supporters were known as "Blackshirts" after the uniforms they wore. Growing British hostility towards Nazi Germany , with which the British press persistently associated the BUF, further contributed to the decline of the movement's membership.

It was finally banned by the British government in 1940 after the start of the Second World War, amid suspicion that its remaining supporters might form a pro-Nazi " fifth column ". A number of prominent BUF members were arrested and interned under Defence Regulation 18B . History Background Oswald Mosley was the youngest elected Conservative MP before crossing the floor in 1922, joining first Labour and, shortly afterwards, the Independent Labour Party . He became a minister in Ramsay MacDonald 's Labour government , advising on rising unemployment. In 1930, he issued his 'Mosley Memorandum' which fused protectionism with a proto- Keynesian programme of policies designed to tackle the unemployment problem, and resigned from the party soon after, in early 1931, when the plans were rejected. He immediately formed the New Party , with policies based on his memorandum, but notwithstanding winning sixteen percent of the vote at a by-election in Ashton-under-Lyne in early 1931, the party failed to achieve any additional electoral success. Over 1931 the New Party became increasingly influenced by Fascism .

The next year, after a January 1932 visit to Benito Mussolini in Italy , Mosley's own conversion to fascism was confirmed. He wound up the New Party in April, but preserved its youth movement, which would form the core of the BUF, intact. He spent the summer that year writing a fascist programme, The Greater Britain, and this formed the basis of policy of the BUF, which was launched in October 1932. Early success and growth The BUF claimed 50,000 members at one point, and the Daily Mail , running the headline "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!," was an early supporter. [2] The first Director of Propaganda, appointed in February 1933, was Wilfred Risdon , who was responsible for organising all of Mosley's public meetings.

Despite strong resistance from anti-fascists, including the local Jewish community , the Labour Party , the Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain , the BUF found a following in the East End of London , where in the London County Council elections of March 1937, it obtained reasonably successful results in Bethnal Green , Shoreditch and Limehouse , polling almost 8,000 votes, although none of its candidates was elected. The BUF never stood in a General Election . Having lost the funding of newspaper magnate Lord Rothermere that it had previously enjoyed, at the 1935 General Election the party urged voters to abstain, calling for "Fascism Next Time." [3] There never was a "next time," as the next General Election wasn't held until July 1945, five years after the dissolution of the BUF. Towards the middle of the 1930s, the BUF's violent clashes with opponents began to alienate a few middle-class supporters, and membership decreased.

At the Olympia rally in London, in 1934, BUF stewards violently ejected anti-fascist disrupters, with one protester claiming to have lost an eye, and this led the Daily Mail to withdraw its support for the movement. The level of violence shown at the rally shocked many, with the effect of turning neutral parties against the BUF and contributing to anti-fascist support. One observer claimed, "I came to the conclusion that Mosley was a political maniac, and that all decent English people must combine to kill his movement." Decline and legacy The BUF briefly drew away from mainstream politics and towards antisemitism over 1934-35 owing to the growing influence of Nazi sympathisers within the party, like William Joyce and John Beckett , which provoked the resignation of members like Dr. Robert Forgan . This anti-semitic emphasis and these high-profile resignations resulted in membership dropping to below 8,000 by the end of 1935 and, ultimately, Mosley shifted the party's focus back to mainstream politics.

The party continued to clash with anti-fascists, most famously at the Battle of Cable Street in October 1936, when organised anti-fascists prevented the BUF from marching through Cable Street. Notwithstanding the party later staged additional marches through the East End without incident, albeit not on Cable Street itself. BUF support for Edward VIII and the peace campaign to prevent a second World War saw membership and public support rise once more. The government was sufficiently concerned by the party's growing prominence to pass the Public Order Act 1936 , which banned political uniforms and required police consent for political marches. In 1937, William Joyce and additional Nazi sympathisers split from the party to form the National Socialist League , which folded, with most of its members interned . Mosley later denounced Joyce as a traitor and condemned him for his extreme anti-semitism. The historian Stephen Dorril revealed in his book Blackshirts that secret envoys from the Nazis had donated about £ 50,000 to the BUF. [5] By 1939, total BUF membership was probably approaching 20,000.

In May 1940, the BUF was banned outright by the government and Mosley, along with 740 other fascists, was interned for much of the Second World War. After the war, Mosley made several unsuccessful attempts to return to politics, notably in the Union Movement . Character Mosley, known to his followers as The Leader, modelled his leadership style on Benito Mussolini and the BUF on Mussolini's National Fascist Party in Italy , including an imitation of the Italian Fascists' black uniforms for members, earning them the nickname " Blackshirts ". The BUF was anti-communist and protectionist , and proposed replacing parliamentary democracy with executives elected to represent specific industries, trades or additional professional interest groups—a system similar to the corporatism of the Italian fascists. Unlike the Italian system, British fascist corporatism planned to replace the House of Lords with elected executives drawn from major industries, the clergy, and colonies. The House of Commons was to be reduced to allow for a faster, "less factionist" democracy. The BUF's programme and ideology were outlined in Mosley's Great Britain (1932) and A. Raven Thompson's The Coming Corporate State (1938).

Many BUF policies were built on isolationism , prohibiting trade outside an insulated British Empire . Mosley’s system aimed to protect the British economy from the fluctuations of the world market, especially throughout the Great Depression , and prevent "cheap slave competition from abroad." Relationship with the Suffragettes In a January 2010 BBC documentary, Mother Was A Blackshirt, James Maw reported that in 1914 Norah Elam was placed in a Holloway prison cell with Emmeline Pankhurst for her involvement with the Suffragette movement, and again in 1940 was returned to the same prison with Diana Mosley, this time for her involvement with the fascist movement. An Additional leading suffragette, Mary Richardson , became head of the women's section of the BUF. The report described how Elam's fascist philosophy grew from her suffragette experiences, how the British fascist movement became largely driven by women, how they targeted young women from an early age, how the first British fascist movement was founded by a woman, and how the leading lights of the Suffragettes had, with Oswald Mosley , founded the BUF.

[6] Mosley's electoral strategy had been to prepare for the election after 1935, and in 1936 he announced a list of BUF candidates for that election, with Elam nominated to stand for Northampton. Mosley accompanied Elam to Northampton to introduce her to her electorate at a meeting in the Town Hall. At that meeting Mosley announced that "he was glad indeed to have the opportunity of introducing the first candidate, and ... [thereby] killed for all time the suggestion that National Socialism proposed putting British women back into the home; this is simply not true. Mrs Elam [he went on] had fought in the past for women's suffrage ... and was a great example of the emancipation of women in Britain." Prominent members and supporters Henry Williamson was a writer. [18] In popular culture The Channel 4 television serial Mosley (1998) portrayed the career of Oswald Mosley throughout his years with the BUF. The four-part series was based on the books Rules of the Game and Beyond the Pale, written by Mosley's son, Nicholas Mosley .

[19] In the film It Happened Here , the BUF appears to be the ruling party of German-occupied Britain. A Mosley speech is heard on the radio in the scene before everyone goes to the movies. The first depiction of Mosley and the BUF in fiction occurred in Aldous Huxley 's 1932 novel, Point Counter Point , where Mosley is depicted as Everard Webley, the murderous leader of the "BFF", the Brotherhood of Free Fascists, and comes to a nasty end. Harry Turtledove 's alternate history novel, In the Presence of Mine Enemies , is set in 2010 in a world where the Nazis were triumphant, the BUF governs Britain – and the first stirrings of the reform movement come from there. The BUF and Mosley additionally appear as background influences in Turtledove's Colonization trilogy which follows the Worldwar tetralogy and is set in the 1960s. James Herbert 's 1996 novel '48 features a protagonist who's hunted by BUF Blackshirts in a devastated London after a biological weapon release in the Second World War.

The history of the BUF and Mosley is recapitulated. In Ken Follett 's novel Night Over Water , several of the main characters are BUF members. In his book Winter of the World , the Battle of Cable Street plays a role and a few of the characters are involved in the BUF or in the anti-BUF organisations. The BUF is additionally in Guy Walters ' book The Leader (2003), where Mosley is the dictator of Britain in the 1930s. The British humorous writer P. G. Wodehouse satirised the BUF in books and short stories. The BUF was satirised as "The Black Shorts" (shorts being worn as all the best shirt colours were already taken) and their leader was Roderick Spode , owner of a ladies' underwear shop. The British novelist Nancy Mitford satirised the BUF and Mosley in Wigs on the Green , initially published in 1935 and republished in 2010. Diana Mitford , the author's sister, had been romantically involved with Mosley after 1932.

In the 1992 Acorn Media production of Agatha Christie 's One, Two, Buckle My Shoe with David Suchet and Philip Jackson , one of the supporting characters (played by Christopher Eccleston ) secures a paid position as a rank-and-file member of the BUF. The BUF and Oswald Mosley are additionally alluded to in Kazuo Ishiguro 's novel The Remains of the Day . The BUF and Mosley are featured heavily in the 2010 BBC version of Upstairs, Downstairs where two of the characters are BUF supporters. The Pogues ' song " The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn ," from their 1985 album Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash , references the BUF in its second verse with the line "And you decked a few fucking blackshirt who was cursing all the Yids". Ned Beauman 's 2010 debut novel Boxer, Beetle portrays the Battle of Cable Street. C.J. Samson's 2012 novel, "Dominion", has Sir Oswald Mosley as Home Secretary in a 'post-Dunkirk peace with Germany alternate history thriller' set in 1952.

Lord Beaverbrook is Prime Minister of an authoritarian coalition government. Blackshirts tend to be auxiliary policemen. In series one, episode two ("The White Feather") of Foyle's War , detective Paul Milner attends a fascist group meeting which is obviously based on the BUF and Mosley. References are made to the BUF and Mosley elsewhere in the episode. In the film, The King's Speech , a brief shot shows a brick wall in London plastered with posters, a few reading "Fascism is Practical Patriotism" and others, "Stand by the King." Both sets of posters were put up by British Blackshirts, who supported King Edward VIII . Some historians believe Edward had fascist leanings. Election results British Union of Fascists This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website British Union of Fascists United Kingdom [The flags of the British Union of Fascists were discussed by Lucien Philippe in an article in Flagmaster years ago ( Lucien Philippe : "Movements of the extreme right in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. Part 1," Flagmaster, No. 44, 1984).

Philippe's article is accompanied by illustrations of two flags.] British Union of Fascists - 1932 to 1935 Image by Jan Oskar Engene The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was founded on 1 October 1932 simply by a name change. Mosley, the party's leader, had founded the New Party on 1 May 1932 and this party changed name to British Union of Fascists in late 1932. BUF's emblem was the one used by Italian fascists and by other fascist movements, the fasces. In the flag, according to Philippe, the fasces was white placed over a blue disk [ but see note on colour ] on a red field. Judging by a photograph in Ernst Nolte: Der Faschismus. Von Mussolini zu Hitler. Texte, Bilder und Dokumente (Munich: Verlag Kurt Desch, 1968, p 201), showing Mosley with the flag at BUF London HQ, there are some darker elements to the fasces emblem. Maybe this particular flag had some silver elements, but I am now guessing.

Jan Oskar Engene, 18 April 2002 Note on colour : I'm sure the colours should be as shown [above - using a black disk]. These are the colours of Oswald Mosley's earlier 'New Party', there is evidence that these colours were used for a short time after the founding of the B.U.F. in 1932. I have stated the above in my book 'Mosley's Men in Black' (Uniforms, flags and insignia of the B.U.F.), which was published in December 2004. John Millican, 17 June 2005 British Union of Fascists and National Socialists - 1935 to 1940 Image by Jan Oskar Engene In 1935 another name change occurred, the party's name now being British Union of Fascists and National Socialists. Along with the name change also appeared a new emblem, the lightening flash, and a new flag sporting the emblem and the flag colours of the United Kingdom. Again according to Philippe, the flash was white, set on a blue disk edged in white. All this appeared in the centre of a red field.

This flag was used until the party was dissolved in 1940, but the flash emblem reappeared after the war as the symbol of another of Mosley's parties. Jan Oskar Engene, 18 April 2002 Guy Walters' The Leader (ISBN:0-7553-0058-0) is an alternate history novel set in a time line branched from ours after British King Edward VIII decided not to abdicate in late 1936, which eventually lead Oswald Mosley to the Cabinet. In real world was Oswald Mosley indeed leader of the British Union of Fascists. The artwork in the cover of this book shows this flag, but with the symbol in black, not blue. In the prologue of this book, A Day to Remember, British and (contemporary) German flags play a central role. Throughout the novel, the BUFNS party flag and its symbol, on pins and armbands, are mentioned many times.

Ant�nio Martins-Tuv�lkin, 2 September 2005 Discussion about the flag of the British Union of Fascists I'm fairly certain that it was a black lightning-flash on a white circle on a red field (like the Nazi flag). They wore black shirts, like the Italian fascisti, and were generally more influenced by Fascist Italy than by Nazi Germany. Vincent Morley, 8 May 1999 The flag used a black device within a white circle on a red ground, same proportions as that of Germany 1935-45 . There was a TV programme Thursday 2 November, 2000, ITV 10 pm Britain at War IN COLOUR which showed a BUF march with Sir Oswald Mosley leading, in the early months of the war - he was later detained/arrested/interned 'for the duration' (I think).

The 'device' if I remember it was like a black circle but split into 2, with diameters Michael Hutchings, 5 November 2000 According to "Los Fascismos Desconocidos 1919-1945" [Unknown Fascisms], Carlos Caballero, Editorial Huguin 1984, Barcelona, the British Union of Fascists used two symbols. From its foundation in October 1932 up to 1935, a fasces. In 1935 the movement is renamed "British Union of Fascists and National Socialists" and the fasces is replaced by a bolt of lightning (similar to a Sieg rune) within a circle. There is a photograph of Sir Oswald Mosley reviewing a troop of Blackshirts but only a group of Union Flags are visible. Santiago Dotor, 6 July 1999 This one is quite known from the SS "logo", where it shows doubled. Did the book refer to the colors of those flags? Was the second flag red with black symbol (on white disc) or the other way around?

António Martins, 7 July 1999 There is no mentions of colours at all. In the picture where Sir Oswald Mosley is reviewing the troop he is wearing a black (well the picture is b&w so it could be red! - but I am assuming black from the fact they wore black shirts) German-officer-like cap with a small, clear metal, vertical fasces on it. But that does obviously not imply the earlier flag was black with a white/grey vertical fasces... Volume 1 (or is it 2?) of "Uniforms, Organisation and History of the Foreign Legions of the Third Reich" from Roger James Bender, which I do not have, includes a chapter on the "Britisches Freikorps der SS". Though not very much related, it may happen that there is information on the BUF there. I do have volumes 3 and 4 and most countries treated include rich information on local Fascist and/or Nationalsocialist prewar and wartime organisations. Santiago Dotor, 8 July 1999 The lightning device was actually blue in keeping with the national red/white/ blue of the union flag. There is a representation of the BUF device on .

Neil Spall, 17 April 2002 I have found evidence that there was a British flag with a swastika used at rallies in the 1930's. This photograph of the flag in use is from the cover of a book on the British fascists. Rick Prohaska, 4 September 2005 [Editorial Note: Rick most likely refers here to the flag of the Imperial Fascist League , a rival fascist movement started by Arnold Spencer Leese in 1928 and active until 1939.] I don't have any special information about the history and development of BUF flag designs, but I have come across this Web page , which is described as containing the "official" Fascist version of [the Battle of Cable Street] from the Friends of Mosley site'). On that page, you can see a modern version of the BUF symbol using a blue disc overlaid with a white/silvery blue lightning bolt and ring on a red ground. The blue used that I see on my monitor is a lighter shade than used in the UK's Union flag (the flag usually called the `Union Jack').

There are also some photographs on the page, apparently taken of BUF meetings during the 1930s. The image at is black and white, so can't tell us much except that at the time the photograph was taken the BUF device included a lightning bolt inside a ring, both elements being white or a very light shade. The image at shows BUF banners in colour: the red ground is clearly visible, along with a light coloured flash and ring which look white to me. The reproduced colour of what's supposedly a blue disc in the centre is harder to make out. It looks black to my eyes. I've examined some pixels in what's supposed to be the blue disc with a graphics package and found that they're stored as very dark yellow pixels. That must be an artifact of the reproduction process, since whatever colour the disc was, it certainly wasn't yellow. The same test on the black appearing police uniforms which were navy blue in real life showed that the pixels I examined are stored in the graphics file as very dark green.

But that graphics file has had its colour messed up several ways: firstly, by capturing onto 1930s colour photographic film, then probably transferring onto colour print paper (but the site authors might have got hold of a negative or slide), decades of aging, then by scanning in to a computer, and finally by displaying on a monitor. If the BUF used the same blue as the blue used in British flags, that might explain the black appearance of the blue element in the photograph: that particular blue is a reasonably a deep shade, and I recall hearing that early photographic film was often not very good at reproducing blue. So maybe it's not surprising that a part of the flag that couldn't really be anything but blue[1] hasn't had its colour faithfully rendered. From what I can see, it looks as if whatever designs might have been used for the BUF flag, at one point at least it had certainly developed into the red, white, and blue device described above. [1] Unless it's black - but red, white, and blue are British[1] colours and it was the *British* Union of Fascists... [2] And French, and Dutch, and American, and...

Rowland McDonnell, 13 March 2006 There was an article in Flagmaster entitled 'Our Blackshirt Legions' by Brian Leigh Davis. Part 1 (issue 61, Autumn 1988, [pp1-4]) dealt with pre-1945 organisations. In it, he describes several badges, armbands and flags in his collection, and all use a white lightning flash and circle on blue. Ian Sumner, 16 March 2006 British Union Of Fascists : Newspapers And Secret Files - British Online Archives From Microform Academic Publishers British Union of Fascists : newspapers and secret files Collections British Union of Fascists : newspapers and secret files British Union of Fascists : newspapers and secret files On Thursday the 23rd of May 1940, after a lengthy period of surveillance by the security services, Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) which he had founded in 1932, was arrested by police under Defence Regulation 18B of the Emergency Powers Act (1939). He was interned, initially in Brixton Prison and then in Holloway.

Two weeks after his arrest, under the heading 'Treason in politics', the last ever issue of Action ( No. 222, June 6, 1940 ) proclaimed: "There is nothing in the policy of British Union, that lends the slightest excuse for such treasonable practices. It has been laid down again and again that members must obey the law, must do nothing to impede the nation's war effort, and in case of invasion, must rally to Ihe defence of the British Empire. Where members have been found guilty of disloyal or unpatriotic behaviour, their expulsion from the Movement follows as a matter of course." Increasingly, during the course of the 1930s, the authorities had come to view the BUF as pro-Nazi. Although the BUF continued to function throughout the "phoney war", the invasion of France in May 1940 and the fear of an imminent invasion of Britain led the authorities to act against the British Union. Mosley's repeated calls "For Britain, peace and people", for example on the front page of issue no.

184 (September 2, 1939) of Action , the day after the Third Reich invaded Poland, were cited as evidence of support for appeasing Hitler. Indeed, among the reasons given in Home Office files ( HO 283/12 ) for the internment of Mosley, together with over a thousand other leading BUF officials, was the charge that "the persons in control of the organization have or have had associations with persons concerned in the Government of Germany, a power with which His Majesty is at war," in other words the authorities thought they were Nazi collaborators. Yet for all this, the accusations made against Mosley were never tried in court, though there were a number of hearings at which he attempted to overturn the order of arrest and internment. The issue became a cause c�l�bre, with Mosley even enjoying support from such unlikely quarters as Britain's anarchists. In December 1943, introducing 'It might have happened to you!' (The Word : special investigation report on 18B ), Guy A.

Aldred, a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation, "dare[d] to come forward, not as an apologist of their opinions, but as the defender of their civil rights. If they are traitors, indict them. If they are not traitors, release them. If they cannot be indicted, they ought to be restored to human liberty." In addition to the three principal organs of BUF, Action (1936-1940), Blackshirt (1933-1939) and Fascist week (1933-1934), the present collection reproduces, from the National Archives at Kew, a wealth of information gathered by the Home Office, the Police, MI5 and the Cabinet Office on Mosley and also his second wife, Lady Diana Mosley, who was arrested and interned just over a month later, on the 29th of June 1940.

Read together, these newspapers and previously classified documents permit researchers to evaluate the true extent not only of any threat home-grown fascism posed to Britain during the early stages of the Second World War, but also of the political and financial relationships between British fascists, the Nazis in Germany, and Mussolini's fascist party in Italy, as well as elsewhere in Europe during this period of political history. British Union of Fascists - definition of British Union of Fascists by The Free Dictionary British Union of Fascists - definition of British Union of Fascists by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Acronyms , Wikipedia . British Union of Fascists n (Historical Terms) the British fascist party founded by Sir Oswald Mosley (1932), which advocated a strong corporate state and promoted anti-Semitism Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: Mosley References in periodicals archive ? The quest led Nina to approach the living relatives of Mary's siblings, took her to the Women's Library and Public Records Office in London and prompted the discovery that Mary had been suspected of spying because of her links with the British Union of Fascists.

Fascism, totalitarianism and political religion Ambassador Dino Grandi's role was clearly delineated: "The analysis of Grandi's work [in the years 1932-39] in high diplomacy is thus integrated with the history of Italy's attempts to transform its emigrants in Britain into enthusiastic Fascists, and the contacts between Fascist Italy and British sympathisers, notably the British Union of Fascists and the Conservative Italophiles"(1). Claudia Baldoli. Exporting Fascism: Italian Fascists and Britain's Italians in the 1930s It's a message pioneered in Britain by Oswald Mosley's infamous British Union of Fascists, which at its height in 1934 boasted more than 50,000 members. Mosley's widow dies at 93 In the 1930s and 1940s we also had an internal threat: from the BUF - British Union of Fascists, which organisation included Sir Oswold Mosley with very wealthy backers such as Ford Rothermere and the Daily Mail - which supported the Fascists and Franco in the Civil War in Spain 1936-1939.

The previous enemies within It happened in the 1930s as Oswald Mosley's so-called British Union of Fascists was at its peak and re-emerged with an extreme street movement which called itself the White Defence League in the 1950s, then the nazi National Front during the 1970s. Populist party with racist overtones Mr Mosley, youngest son of Sir Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), has issued High Court proceedings against Google Inc and Google UK Limited for misuse of private information and breaches of the Data Protection Act through his lawyers Payne Hicks Beach. British Union of Fascists - 必应 Sign in British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists, or BUF, was a Fascist political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. It changed its name to the "British Union of Fascists and National Socialists" in 1936 and, in 1937, to "British Union". It was finally disbanded in 1940 after it was proscribed by the British government, following the start of the Second World War.

The BUF emerged in 1932 from the British far-right, following the electoral defeat of its antecedent, the New Party, in the 1931 general election. The BUF's foundation was initially met with ... (展开) popular support and developed a sizeable following. The Press Baron Lord Rothermere was a notable early supporter. As the party became increasingly radical, however, support declined. The Olympia Rally of 1934, in which a number of anti-Fascist protestors were attacked, isolated the party from much of its following. The party's embrace of Nazi-style anti-semitism in 1936 led to increasingly violent clashes with opponents, notable the 1936 Battle of Cable Street in London's East End. The Public Order Act 1936, which banned political uniforms and responded to increasing political violence, had a particularly strong effect on the BUF whose supporters were known as "Blackshirts" after the uniforms they wore. Growing British hostility towards Nazi Germany, with which the BUF was increasingly associated, further contributed to the decline of the movement. Its membership declined sharply.

It was finally banned by the British government in 1940 after the start of the Second World War, amid suspicion that its remaining supporters might form a pro-Nazi "fifth column". A number of prominent BUF members were arrested and interned under Defence Regulation 18B. The British Union of Fascists, or BUF, was a Fascist political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. It changed its name to the ... It is being intentionally destroyed. If the political elite get their way, both British society and British nature are doomed to extinction. Sections. British Union of Fascists; British Union of Fascists in Worthing ; Daily Mail and the British Union of Fascists; Lord Rothermere removes support for BUF spartacus-educational.com/Pfascists.htm British Union of Fascists (majority) Ideology: Fascism (declared) ... The British Fascists were the first political organisation in the United Kingdom to claim the ... British Union of Fascists: Logo officiel.

Présentation; Fondation: 1932: Idéologie: Fascisme, Nazisme, Nationalisme blanc, British Fascism (en) Affiliation européenne British Union of Fascists British Union of Fascists Primary Sources In 1931 Oswald Mosley founded the New Party. Early supporters included John Strachey , John Becket , Harold Nicholson, Cyril Joad , William Joyce , Mary Richardson , William Allen , Robert Forgan and A. K. Chesterton , but in the 1931 General Election none of the New Party's candidates were elected. In January 1932 Mosley met Benito Mussolini in Italy . Mosley was impressed by Mussolini's achievements and when he returned to England he disbanded the New Party and replaced it with the British Union of Fascists. The British Union of Fascists was strongly anti-communist and argued for a programme of economic revival based on government spending and protectionism. Mary Richardson later commented: "I was first attracted to the Blackshirts because I saw in them the courage, the action, the loyalty, the gift of service, and the ability to serve which I had known in the suffrage movement".

In October, 1932, Mosley published The Greater Britain, his manifesto for a Fascist state. British Union of Fascists Mosley attracted members from other right-wing groups such as the British Fascisti , National Fascists and the Imperial Fascist League. By 1934 the British Union of Fascists was able to establish its own drinking clubs and football teams. The BUF also gained the support of Lord Rothermere and the Daily Mail . Rothermere wrote an article, Hurrah for the Blackshirts, on 22nd January, 1934, in which he praised Mosley for his "sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine". Rothermere added: "Timid alarmists all this week have been whimpering that the rapid growth in numbers of the British Blackshirts is preparing the way for a system of rulership by means of steel whips and concentration camps. Very few of these panic-mongers have any personal knowledge of the countries that are already under Blackshirt government. The notion that a permanent reign of terror exists there has been evolved entirely from their own morbid imaginations, fed by sensational propaganda from opponents of the party now in power.

As a purely British organization, the Blackshirts will respect those principles of tolerance which are traditional in British politics. They have no prejudice either of class or race. Their recruits are drawn from all social grades and every political party. Young men may join the British Union of Fascists by writing to the Headquarters, King's Road, Chelsea, London, S.W." According to a MI5 report in 1934 the British Union of Fascists had between 35,000 and 40,000 active members. It also said that senior service officers and prominent businessmen had joined the party. The Conservative Party became concerned about losing members to the BUF. One of their MPs, Colonel Thomas Moore , wrote in the Daily Mail on 25th April 1934: "Surely there cannot be any fundamental difference of outlook between the Blackshirts and their parents, the Conservatives?" Michael Beaumont , the MP for Aylesbury said the fascists "were respectable, reasonable and intelligent people". Harold Hayles , MP for Hanley , said the BUF contained "some of the most cultured members of our society".

British Union of Fascists in Worthing Charles Bentinck Budd was elected to the Worthing Town Council as a member of the BUF in October 1933. The national press reported that Worthing was the first town in the country to elect a Fascist councillor. Worthing was now described as the "Munich of the South". Oswald Mosley announced that Budd was the BUF Administration Officer for Sussex . On Friday 1st December 1933, the BUF held its first public meeting in Worthing in the Old Town Hall. According to the author of Storm Tide: Worthing 1933-1939 (2008): "It was crowded to capacity, with the several rows of seats normally reserved for municipal dignitaries and magistrates now occupied by forbidding, youthful men arrived in black Fascist uniforms, in company with several equally young women dressed in black blouses and grey skirts." On 4th January, 1934, Budd reported that over 150 people in Worthing had joined the British Union of Fascists . He claimed that the greatest intake had come from increasingly disaffected Conservatives.

The Weekly Fascist News described the growth in membership as "phenomenal". Budd also announced that local communists had broken into his offices at 27 Marine Parade and stolen 96 BUF badges, together with cigarettes and £2.2s.8d in cash. However, soon afterwards the police arrested Cyril Mitchell of 16 Leigh Road, Broadwater. Mitchell, who admitted the offence, was in fact a young Blackshirt, who had broken into the offices after a night out in the pub. He told the police, "something came over me… I had too much beer". The mayor of Worthing, Harry Duffield, the leader of the Conservative Party in the town, was most favourably impressed with the Blackshirts and congratulated them on the disciplined way they had marched through the streets of Worthing. He reported that employers in the town had written to him giving their support for the British Union of Fascists . They had "no objection to their employees wearing the black shirt even at work; and such public spirited action on their part was much appreciated." On 26th January, 1934, William Joyce , the deputy leader of the BUF, addressed a public meeting at the Pier Pavilion.

Over 900 people turned up to hear Joyce speak. In his speech he pledged to free British industry from foreigners, "be they Hebrew or any other form of alien." Joyce ended his two-hour speech with: "Reclaim what is your own in the fullness of Fascist victory!" Oswald Mosley and the Blackshirts. It was announced that Charles Bentinck Budd had arranged for Oswald Mosley and William Joyce to address a meeting at the Pavilion on 9th October, 1934. The venue was packed with fascist supporters. The meeting was disrupted when a few hecklers were ejected by hefty East End bouncers. Mosley, however, continued his speech undaunted, telling his audience that Britain's enemies would have to be deported: "We were assaulted by the vilest mob you ever saw in the streets of London - little East End Jews, straight from Poland. Are you really going to blame us for throwing them out?" At the close of the proceedings the main body of uniformed Fascists, led by Joyce, emerged from the Pavilion on to the Esplanade. It was estimated that there were 2,000 people waiting outside. The crowd surged forward and several fights began.

A ninety-six-year-old woman, Doreen Hodgkins, was struck on the head by a Blackshirt before being escorted away. When the Blackshirts retreated inside, the crowd began to chant: "Poor old Mosley's got the wind up!" The author of Storm Tide: Worthing 1933-1939 (2008) has pointed out: "By this time all nineteen available members of the Borough's police force had been called out, and through their combined efforts a lane through the crowd was forced open from the Pavilion steps across the Esplanade to Marine Parade. But as Joyce and his re-formed black-shirted cohort passed along it they were constantly barracked and jostled; while the sudden appearance of Sir Oswald himself, together with the bodyguards of his Defence Force, led to a further outbreak of scuffles on the Esplanade as large numbers of spectators eagerly closed in upon him. One Blackshirt was knocked to the ground and there were shouts for Sir Oswald to be thrown into the sea...

Despite such imprecations, however, the mood of the majority remained largely good-natured: most people, prompted by curiosity and awe, simply wanting to get a closer, more proper, look at such a famous yet notorious figure. But Sir Oswald, clearly out of countenance and feeling menaced, at once ordered his tough, battle-hardened bodyguards - all of imposing physique and, like their leader, towering over the policemen on duty - to close ranks and adopt their fighting stance which, unsurprisingly, as all were trained boxers, had been modelled on, and closely resembled, that of a prize fighter." Chris Hare , the author of Historic Worthing (2008) has argued: "Mosley, accompanied by William Joyce, left the Pavilion and, protected by a large body of blackshirts, crossed over the road to Barnes's cafe in the Arcade. Stones and rotten vegetables were soon crashing through the windows of the cafe. Boys were observed firing peashooters at the beleaguered Fascists, while some youths were taking aim with air rifles.

Meanwhile a group of young men climbed onto the roof of the Arcade and dislodged a large piece of masonry, which plummeted to earth through the arcade, landing only feet away from the Fascist leader. Things were getting too hot for the Fascists, who made a run for it, up the Arcade into Montague Street, then into South Street. Their intention was presumably to reach either their headquarters in Ann Street, or The Fountain in South Street, known as a 'Fascist pub', but they were ambushed on the corner of Warwick Street by local youths. Hearing the row, more Fascists hurried down from the Fountain to go to Mosley's aid. Fights broke out, bodies were slung against shop windows, and startled residents threw open their windows to see a seething mass of entangled bodies desperately struggling for control of the junction between South Street and Warwick Street." Superintendent Bristow later claimed that a crowd of about 400 people attempted to stop the Blackshirts from getting to their headquarters. A series of fights took place and several people were injured.

Francis Skilton, a solicitor's clerk who had left his home at 30 Normandy Road to post a letter at the Central Post Office in Chapel Road, and got caught up in the fighting. A witness, John Birts, later told the police that Skilton had been "savagely attacked by at least three Blackshirts." It was not until 11.00 p.m. that the police managed to clear the area. Daily Mail and the British Union of Fascists The London Evening News , another newspaper owned by Lord Rothermere , found a more popular and subtle way of supporting the Blackshirts. It obtained 500 seats for a BUF rally at the Royal Albert Hall and offered them as prizes to readers who sent in the most convincing reasons why they liked the Blackshirts. Another title owned by Rothermere, The Sunday Dispatch , even sponsored a Blackshirt beauty competition to find the most attractive BUF supporter. Not enough attractive women entered and the contest was declared void. Oswald Mosley appointed William Joyce as the party full-time Propaganda Director. Joyce, along with Mosley and Mick Clarke, were the organisations three main public speakers.

On 7th June, 1934, the British Union of Fascists held a large rally at Olympia . About 500 anti-fascists including Vera Brittain , Richard Sheppard and Aldous Huxley , managed to get inside the hall. When they began heckling Oswald Mosley they were attacked by 1,000 black-shirted stewards. Several of the protesters were badly beaten by the fascists. Margaret Storm Jameson pointed out in The Daily Telegraph : "A young woman carried past me by five Blackshirts, her clothes half torn off and her mouth and nose closed by the large hand of one; her head was forced back by the pressure and she must have been in considerable pain. I mention her especially since I have seen a reference to the delicacy with which women interrupters were left to women Blackshirts. This is merely untrue... Why train decent young men to indulge in such peculiarly nasty brutality?" The Daily Mail continued to give its support to the fascists.

George Ward Price wrote about anti-fascist demonstrators at a meeting of the National Union of Fascists on 8th June, 1934: "If the Blackshirts movement had any need of justification, the Red Hooligans who savagely and systematically tried to wreck Sir Oswald Mosley's huge and magnificently successful meeting at Olympia last night would have supplied it. They got what they deserved. Olympia has been the scene of many assemblies and many great fights, but never had it offered the spectacle of so many fights mixed up with a meeting." Collin Brooks , was a journalist who worked for Lord Rothermere at the The Sunday Dispatch . He also attended the the rally at Olympia . Brooks wrote in his diary: "He mounted to the high platform and gave the salute - a figure so high and so remote in that huge place that he looked like a doll from Marks and Spencer's penny bazaar. He then began - and alas the speakers hadn't properly tuned in and every word was mangled. Not that it mattered - for then began the Roman circus. The first interrupter raised his voice to shout some interjection.The mob of storm troopers hurled itself at him.

He was battered and biffed and hashed and dragged out - while the tentative sympathisers all about him, many of whom were rolled down and trodden on, grew sick and began to think of escape. From that moment it was a shambles. Free fights all over the show. The Fascist technique is really the most brutal thing I have ever seen, which is saving something. There is no pause to hear what the interrupter is saying: there is no tap on the shoulder and a request to leave quietly: there is only the mass assault. Once a man's arms are pinioned his face is common property to all adjacent punchers." Brooks also commented that one of his "party had gone there very sympathetic to the fascists and very anti-Red". As they left the meeting he said "My God, if ifs to be a choice between the Reds and these toughs, I'm all for the Reds". MI5 also reported to the Home Office that the rally would have a negative impact on the future of the National Union of Fascists : "It is becoming increasingly clear that at Olympia Mosley suffered a check which is likely to prove decisive.

He suffered it, not at the hands of the Communists who staged the provocations and now claim the victory; but at the hands of Conservative MPs, the Conservative press and all those organs of public opinion which made him abandon the policy of using his Defence Force to overwhelm interrupters." Lord Rothermere removes support for BUF In July, 1934 Lord Rothermere suddenly withdrew his support for Oswald Mosley . The historian, James Pool , the author of Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power (1979), argues: "The rumor on Fleet Street was that the Daily Mail's Jewish advertisers had threatened to place their adds in a different paper if Rothermere continued the profascist campaign." Pool points out that sometime after this, Rothermere met with Hitler at the Berghof and told how the "Jews cut off his complete revenue from advertising" and compelled him to "toe the line." Hitler later recalled Rothermere telling him that it was "quite impossible at short notice to take any effective countermeasures." Norah Elam joined the British Union of Fascist (BUF) in 1934.

Later that year she became the BUF County Women's Officer for West Sussex. It was not long before Elam became very close to Oswald Mosley . The author of Femine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement (2003) has pointed out: "Elam's status in the BUF and the sensitive tasks with which she was entrusted offer some substance to the BUF's claim to respect sexual equality. While, in principle, the movement was segregated by gender and women in positions of leadership were meant to have authority only over other women. Elam was quite evidently admitted to Mosley's inner circle." In November 1936 Norah Elam was one of ten women the British Union of Fascists announced would be candidates in the next general election. Elam was selected to fight the Northampton constituency. Mosley used Norah's past as one of the leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union to counter the criticism that the BUF was anti-feminist. In one speech Norah Elam argued that her prospective candidacy for the House of Commons "killed for all time the suggestion that National Socialism proposed putting British women back in the home". Under the influence of William Joyce the BUP became increasingly anti-Semitic.

In December, 1934 it became official policy. The verbal attacks on the Jewish community led to violence at meetings and demonstrations. In November 1936 a serious riot took place when left-wing organisations successfully stopped Mosley marching through the Jewish areas of London . The activities of the BUF was checked by the the passing of the 1936 Public Order Act . This gave the Home Secretary the power to ban marches in the London area and police chief constables could apply to him for bans elsewhere. This legislation also made it an offence to wear political uniforms and to use threatening and abusive words. Oswald Mosley with members of the British Union of Fascists The BUP anti-Semitic policy was popular in certain inner-city areas and in 1937 Joyce came close to defeating the Labour Party candidate in the London County Council election in Shoreditch. Joyce argued that the BUP should take a more extreme position on racial issues. Mosley disagreed and began to feel that Joyce posed a threat to his leadership. He therefore decided to sack Joyce as Propaganda Director. In an attempt to save money another 142 staff members also lost their jobs.

Defence Regulation 18B In 1938 several members of the BUF left the organization and founded the National Socialist League. This included John Becket , William Joyce , William Allen , Robert Forgan and A. K. Chesterton . The popularity of the BUP declined even further after the outbreak of the Second World War . On 22nd May 1940 the British government announced the imposition of Defence Regulation 18B . This legislation gave the Home Secretary the right to imprison without trial anybody he believed likely to "endanger the safety of the realm". The following day, Oswald Mosley was arrested. Over the next few days other prominent figures in the BUF were imprisoned. On the 30th May the BUF was dissolved and its publications were banned.

o 1932 Sir Oswald Mosley founded British Union of Fascists - EUH - 2002 View Full Document o 1932 Sir Oswald Mosley founded British Union of Fascists  Hated free markets and communism o BUF was incredibly violent and anti-Semitic o 1936 – BUF banned as Hitler becomes more of a threat The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) • Context o Ruled almost without interruption by a monarchy and aristocracy until WWI o 1923 – right wing military coup instilled dictator o 1931 – King abdicates, dictatorship dissolves o 1932 – Spanish Republic formed • 1936 – Spain elects a “Popular Front” o Property seized from aristocrats o Nation-wide strikes by revolutionary workers • July 1936 –right wing military coup led by General Francisco Franco o Established “Nationalist Zone” in northern Spain o Civil war breaks out between Spanish Republicans and right wing Nationalists • April 1939 – Nationalists take Madrid, Republicans forced to surrender o Franco becomes dictator until 1975 • LOTS of foreign aid o Mussolini sends troops, Hitler sends

 tanks, technology, airstrikes for Franco o Republicans get International Brigades, Soviet supplies and advisors, Mexican armaments Hitler’s Aggressive Foreign Policy This preview has intentionally blurred sections.

Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document • March 1938 – Hitler annexed Austria (Anschluss) o No resistance • September 1938 – Munich Conference o Sudetenland ceded to Germany o Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) – “Peace in our Time” • October 1938 – Hitler demands return of Danzig • March 1939 – Hitler invades Czechoslovakia o And demands the return of Memel from Lithuania • May 1939 – Pact of Steel (Hitler and Mussolini) o Defensive alliance between Italy and Germany • August 1939 – Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact o Agreement made to divide Poland o Germany – attack western countries • 1 September 1939 – Hitler invades Poland Discussion 11/2 Keynes, “Economic Consequences of the Peace” (1919) • British economist • Major lesson from collapse – governments can spend money into deficit and nothing bad happens • Impact of war on average man – lost all sense of numerical value • This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document.

TERM World War II (Lecture 11/8/12) Outbreak of WWII Great Britain and France prepare for Notes 16 British Union of Fascists | British political organization | Britannica.com British Union of Fascists THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. Learn about this topic in these articles: in Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet English politician who was the leader of the British Union of Fascists from 1932 to 1940 and of its successor, the Union Movement, from 1948 until his death. Those groups were known for distributing anti-Semitic propaganda, conducting hostile demonstrations in the Jewish sections of east London, and wearing Nazi-style uniforms and insignia. in anti-Semitism: Nazi anti-Semitism and the Holocaust ...but also inspired anti-Jewish movements elsewhere. Anti-Semitism was promulgated in France by the Cagoulards (French: “Hooded Men”), in Hungary by the Arrow Cross, in England by the British Union of Fascists, and in the United States by the German-American Bund and the Silver Shirts.

in fascism: National fascisms The British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, had some 50,000 members. In Belgium the Rexist Party, led by Léon Degrelle, won about 10 percent of the seats in the parliament in 1936. Russian fascist organizations were founded by exiles in Manchuria, the United States, and elsewhere; the largest of these groups were the Russian Fascist Party (VFP), led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky, and...

Question: Who founded the British Union of Fascists in 1932?
Answer: Sir Oswald Mosley